Take Back Indy » Indianapolis Mayor

Frank Anderson, Greg Ballard & the IMPD

TBI — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:25:48 +0000

It looks like Mayor-elect Greg Ballard has his first battle as Mayor on the table.

Sheriff Frank Anderson said today he’s not going to give up control of the city’s police officers without a fight.

“I maintain that the people want an elected sheriff to be responsible for law enforcement.”

I honestly am not sure what the best arrangement is and there are valid arguments on both sides. This still seems like a mess overall, but my hope is that whatever changes are made and once the dust has settled from that, we’ll be better off as a city and the crime issues are addressed.

Regardless, it’ll certainly be interesting to see what comes of this, especially since Frank Anderson only supported the IPD-Marion County Sheriffs Department merger once he was given control over the officers.

Greg Ballard Wins Indianapolis Mayoral Race

TBI — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:58:27 +0000

In a monumental upset, Greg Ballard beat Bart Peterson in the 2007 Indianapolis Mayoral Election…

While I can’t honestly say whether or not Greg Ballard will be a better Mayor of Indianapolis than Bart Peterson was/is, I will say that I’m happy to see some fresh blood in there. And if people don’t like the job that he’s done in his first term, they can go to the polls in four years and make their statement. But I plan on giving him the time to prove himself either way, as change does take a little time.

Read the full post on my personal blog.

Mayor Omits Talk of Budget Cuts

TBI — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:48:50 +0000

Via the Indy Star…

In his address tonight to the City-County Council, Mayor Bart Peterson discussed public safety and property tax — not budget cuts he ordered two weeks ago.

…

His budget-cut presentation was canceled because department heads are still working on the cuts, said Margie Smith-Simmons, Peterson’s spokeswoman.

Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell said Peterson focus on how he will bolster public safety with a $90 million spending increase that came from a 65 percent increase in the county income tax at the last council meeting.

…

However, property taxes could still increase because schools, which account for about half of all property taxes, were not required to freeze property tax spending.

…

School and child welfare spending were two of the key reasons property taxes jumped 34 percent this year, sparking a storm of tax protests from citizens.

“I think the public generally expects budget to go up a few percent with inflation,” Campbell said.

OK, could someone please give Mr. Deputy Mayor a simple math lesson related to inflation?

Something along these lines (in nice round numbers for illustrative purposes):

You earn $100
You are taxed 10%
You take home $90
The government takes $10 in taxes

Along comes a 10% increase in your income due to inflation, thus:

You earn $110
You are still taxed 10%
You take home $99
The government takes $11 in taxes

Yes budgets do go up with inflation, but they should stay on course with inflation and not excessively exceed it. In our current case we’re really talking about tax increases, not inflation. Yes, no one likes to pay taxes, but if it were on a simple 1:1 scale (and the people actually received raises) there wouldn’t be such an uproar.

The bottom line is that the government has budgeted for more than they bring in and someone has to pay for it. So of course there’s going to be public outcry since once a tax is in place it’s most likely not going away, even the “temporary” taxes. Anyway, I’m curious as to what will be said once the budget cuts are finalized.

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